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It has been generally assumed that the Episcopal Church was apathetic toward the temperance movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.1 This assumption has informed the church's discussions on alcohol consumption and the treatment of addiction. In June of 2015, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church passed a resolution calling for the church to "confront and repent" of its "complicity in a culture of alcohol, denial, and enabling" and to advocate for public resources to "respond with pastoral care and accountability" to those facing alcohol addiction." Prior to this, the church last formally considered its attitude toward alcohol in 1985, passing a resolution which presumed that the church had never advocated for prohibition or any legislative platform regarding alcohol awareness/ These resolutions belie the denomination's rich history of conscientious and pastoral engagement with alcohol addiction.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, American Anglicans taught temperance in the spirit of classical philosophy and theology. Temperance was not considered the sum of all virtues, but moderation in drink was recognized as a scriptural command and mark of election. While drunkenness had been commonly preached against by both colonial Puritans and Anglicans, an injunction to total abstinence on the part of either was nearly unheard of.4 Increase Mather was in agreement with most seventeenth and eighteenth century Christians when he proclaimed, "Drink is in itself a good creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness; the wine is from God, but the drunkard is from the Devil."5 Canon XIII of the church's 1789 canons denounced drunkenness and the frequenting of taverns on the part of clergy, but only among a substantial list of other vices punishable by ecclesiastical censure, suspension, or degradation.6 Though there were efforts made around the turn of the nineteenth century to formally specify immoral practices unbecoming of church members/ such motions failed because activities such as drinking, attending balls, or going to the theater were seen as "dangerous" but were not considered sins in themselves.8 The Rt. Reverend John Henry Hobart of New York encouraged moderation in drinking rather than abstinence in his 1826 Church Catechism9 and wine was commonly served into the early nineteenth century at ecclesiastical events.10
Between 1800 and 1830 the nascent United States of America witnessed such...